Have you ever heard the expression "A date with destiny"?  I had always considered it to be a rather silly thing to say and yet a few minutes of a previously insignificant day were to change the entire course of my life.  It was a Friday afternoon and I had joined Ambrose and his family for a quiet lunch at an exclusive lilypad-restaurant.  Unbeknownst to the restaurant owner, we were checking out the restaurant to see if it was an appropriate venue for our wedding.  And it was.  It was the most beautiful place that I had ever eaten in.  Flowers surrounded the entrances and each of the lily pads was gilded with a gilt edging.  I was ecstatic - and Ambrose was tolerant of my enthusiasm.  We decided that this was indeed the place in which our nuptials should be held. 

The main course was exquisite.  Excellently prepared and beautifully presented.  At first I felt a little uncomfortable being in such an upmarket establishment.  They had nothing like this at my end of the pond.  However, the ease of conversation (coupled with some lubrication from alcohol) led to my feeling far mor at home in this place than I ever could have imagined.   As we were coming to the end of our meal, the Mayor was talking about his policy for education.  Ambrose became very animated on the subject. It was his opinion that his father ought to extend provision of free schooling to the porer areas of town immediately.  Ambrose believed firmly in a comprehensive education where rich and poor children would be educated together in the same schools.  His father felt that this would provoke resistance in many of the richer  families and believed that, initially, at least, schools should be set up in the poorer end of the pond which would exclusively be attended by the children from that neighbourhood.  Personally, I was just happy that schooling would be available to frogs from my background.  I sat back and let the conversation flow over me  - just happy to be with the frog I loved.  I think that this was why I was the first to spot the dark shape lurking, partially concealed, behind a cluster of reeds near to the entrance of the restaurant.  As I turnned to get a better look at this shape, it began to move.  I could see that it was a small frog, clad entirely in black - including a hood over his face.  The frog's front leg moved towards his mouth and I could see that he was holding some kind of tube.   At this point the hooded assassin had not realised that I had seen him.  as he tok careful aim at the Mayor I leapt backwards - screaming a warning.  With an almighty leap I headed in the direction of our assailant - but too late.  he had already fired a dart through his blow pipe.  Seeing my approach he turned and fled.  At the same moment I heard a high pitched shriek and turned to see the mayor and his wife standing over Ambrose's prostrate form.  I was later to find out that as I shrieked my warning, Ambrose, seeing that the assassin was aiming for his father, had jumped to knock the Mayor out of the dart's path.  Unfortunately he had mistimed his leap.  He saved his father's life - at the expense of his own. 

I rushed to my beloved's side.  As I reached him and bent to touch his ashen, waxy  face, he smiled at me and then his eyes glazed over and he was gone.  I let out a yell of rage, defiance and pure agony.  I felt like my whole reason for being had been ripped from me.  The pain was physical - as if I, myself had been shot with the poisoned dart.  It had only been moments since the attack and I could see that all of the other frogs in the restaurant were frozen either with terror or confusion.  It turned out that very few customers had actually seen our assailant.  They were unsure about what had actually happened.  I raced out of the restaurant desperate to find the frog who had done this to my Ambrose.  But it was too late.  The masked assassin had disappeared. 

This had been my first encounter with THE EVIL ONE, as I was later to dub the killer of my love.  I was left desolate.